In this scene from the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead (DOTD) the audience see Kenneth and Andre in a different light to what they portray to all of the other characters. They both have their differences as Kenneth is a police officer who is seen as the ‘tough guy’ on the outside but has a softer inside as he is willing to risk his life to save his brother, he also shows a good sense of humour as he tries to relax everyone as he starts the game of ‘lookalike zombies’. Kenneth has a good representation of a black character as he has a good job, he’s brave and acts as a strong leader portraying a ‘male hero’. Andre connotes more of a negative black stereotype, he explains his criminal background to Kenneth in this scene as he used to be a thief. However, Andre also explains that he is trying to get his life back on track in order to support his pregnant wife Luda. This scene is a good example of how horror movies can contain powerful characters with deep emotions, it also shows how much we’ve developed since the 70’s when there used to be very few black main characters in a film seen as a ‘male hero’. Horror was a pioneer in this respect, with black heroes in both Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (2004) and nowadays heroic black characters still feature in horror movies more than any other genre of film.
This scene of DOTD (2004) represents some a clear use of collision cutting, going from a fast pace, action packed scene of the survivors running from the zombies to then a quiet elevator environment with slow relaxing music playing. The direct changes from the audience experiencing excitement and action to them just watching the characters patiently wait to see what appears the other side of the elevator doors creates tension for the audience. This tense atmosphere is briefly broken by the less thoughtful character CJ who says ‘I like this song’. The facial expression from everyone in this scene shows that he has isn’t taking the whole situation very seriously as they all look at him as if to say ‘really, CJ?’ In this shot you see the men behind the women which shows they are protecting the women as they put them to safety first, Michael (right) is standing more in front of the women, preparing to protect them if anything unsuspected appears the other side of the doors. It is also only the men who are holding guns which represent their power as phallic weapons to kill the zombies and also protect the women.
In this scene Steve selfishly tries to run away from the rest of the group with the keys to the boat in order to only save himself and leave the others stranded. Throughout the film Steve hasn’t got along with any of the other characters as he has shown an arrogant personality towards them. This is especially evident earlier on in the film as they are all shooting zombies from a rooftop Ana sarcastically says to Steve ‘if you turn into one of them, I’ll happily shoot you in the head’. So in this scene the audience can relate back to Ana’s previous statement in which they then expect her to fulfil. The camera angle of an over the shoulder shot gives us as the audience a sense that we are supporting Ana and that she is also protecting us from Steve, which gives her a strong heroine image. Janet Staiger wrote a book on “interpreting films” and wrote about how films must change over time to appeal to the changing views in society. The changing views in society is represented in this film as it involves a Black Hero and a strong female Heroin, whereas in earlier films the women would have been portrayed to be vulnerable characters and the men would be seen as the ‘hero’.
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